I am a massive Jake Gyllenhaal fan. He is on an absolute role right now with the likes of Enemy, Prisoners and Nightcrawler. Will Southpaw continue this trend of incredible performances in great films? It’s hard to say.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer), Southpaw tells the story of Junior Middleweight Champion Billy “The Great” Hope (Gyllenhaal), who fights his way to the top, only to find his life falling apart around him.

I love Training Day, but I find Fuqua a little hit-and-miss. His films can be quite formulaic, and favour action sequences over character development or plot.

One thing is for sure, Jake has been working out. Comparing this hunk of muscle to the sickly looking character he played in Nightcrawler, it’s hard to believe it’s the same actor. It is said that he gained 15 pounds of pure muscle, training twice a day for seven days a week.